All of my large tentacles are hand made, no two are exactly alike, but the general size and, you know, awesomeness, remain constant. I will need an eight week lead time to complete the piece.
The octopus is a master of disguise, and can change color at will, so I'm offering your choice of mottled paint colors (and porthole treatments). I've shown a few examples in my photos.
Contact me with whatever combination you desire and we'll work together to make the octo-arm statement of your dreams.
The construction is as follows:
A wooden support structure is built. To this, styrofoam is added and carved into the basic tentacle shape. It is then closely covered in aluminum wire mesh.
In the meantime, newsprint is boiled, then whipped into a mush. The mush is allowed to dry over a period of several days, then it is ground into a fine powder. This is combined with sawdust, glue, starch, linseed oil and a bit of bleach and applied to the mesh by it pushing into the mesh to form a very solid base coat. After this coat dries, it is refined with rasps, and a finer mixture of pulped tissue paper,glue and gypsum is applied and allowed to dry. This makes a very nice finish coat. After it dries, the whole piece is sanded and further refined. Each sucker is built in a 3 stage process over a period of several days.
Once the piece is thoroughly dry, it is painted in many thin layers with an airbrush. The depth of the color is further enhanced by a finish coating of highly glossy shellac.
The end product is both lightweight and quite durable.
The porthole is made of plywood and medium density fiberboard, coated with copper paint and chemically patinated to it's lovely blue green hue.
It can also be made in a rusted iron, a blackened iron or a weathered brass finish.
The porthole is 14 3/4"(38cm) in diameter.
The tentacle reaches approximately 36"(79cm) into the room.
I have added a photo showing how the Wall Tentacle might look in your gracious home, specifically if you graciously live in the American wing of the Metropolitan Museum.
A mid sized, lower priced tentacle can be found here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/85847985/wall-tentacle-mid-sized
A small wall tentacle can be found here:
http://www.etsy.com/listing/69288071/small-wall-tentacle-with-splash
The bottom chart compares the 3 sizes of tentacles offered, with an average human arm as reference. This is the large one.
Have any questions?
Contact the shop owner.
